Park Hill, Sheffield

Why is Park Hill an important heritage site?

• The Park Hill Estate is exceptional. As a grade II* listed building, it is in the top 7% of the most important buildings in the country, making it as architecturally and historically significant as the Royal Academy of Art or the Harrods building in London.
  
  Its architectural importance was recognised by listing in 1997, when it became one of only nine listed post-war public housing schemes in England. It has iconic status as a landmark for Sheffield, has unusually high design quality and shows Britain’s leading international role in housing design. When it was built (between 1957 and 1961) it was groundbreaking in its concern to recreate the social mix of a traditional streets by using external access decks, or “streets in the sky”. Architects Ivor Smith and Jack Lynn had designed the most ambitious inner-city housing project of its day, and Britain’s first scheme of post-war slum clearance.

Did listing it make regeneration of the site more expensive?

• No. It would cost more to demolish Park Hill and build something new than to repair and refurbish it. Different options were assessed and the chosen scheme was shown to be the most cost effective. A demolition scheme would also have been just as likely to be affected by the recession as any other type of scheme.

Could we have decided not to recommend it for listing?

• No. If a building meets the strict published criteria for listing then we have a statutory duty to recommend it to the Government for listing - and Park Hill well deserves this honour.

What was the effect of listing it?

• Listing marks a building as nationally or even internationally important. It is Park Hill’s listed status that has attracted investment and enthusiasm to this part of Sheffield. Listing identifies the most important parts of the nation’s built heritage and so helps to make the best of them and keep the places in which we live special.

What does the regeneration project at Park Hill aim to achieve?

• Those regenerating the site want it to be somewhere where people will enjoy living. By the late 90s Park Hill had become run down and was branded an eyesore. It was no longer a desirable place to live. Sheffield City Council recognised that in order for Park Hill to break this image and survive into the next century major refurbishment was needed.
  
  The transformation of Park Hill is currently underway. The aim is to use its strong character and sense of identity to create a thriving community. There will be 874 apartments, with a mix of social and private housing, and 140,000 square ft of commercial space and community areas.

Was taxpayers’ money used to ‘bail out’ private companies on the project?

• No. No extra public money is being spent. As is normal for such projects, a number of government-funded regeneration bodies are part-funding Park Hill’s redevelopment - because they are interested in creating housing and regenerating the area. Much larger investments will also be made by the private companies involved. In this case, some of the public funding is being provided earlier in the project to keep the project moving throughout the recession. This money was already committed.
  
  This very large regeneration project will cost £158 million, which is less than a scheme to demolish and re-build. Of this, £39 million will be provided by regeneration bodies that are publicly funded - £500,000 of which has been contributed by English Heritage toward specific conservation-based repair work. This £39 million figure was agreed in 2006 and has not been changed.

How else is the credit crunch going to affect this project?

• As a long-term project, Park Hill is less susceptible to shorter term fluctuations in the market. It is also the case that a portion of the flats will be social, rented accommodation which is not dependent on the open housing market. Urban Splash has a strong reputation for successfully delivering this type of project and there is a lot of confidence in the project from all the partners involved.

Why is Park Hill not remaining as entirely rented, social housing?

• Times have changed and the local Council and other regeneration bodies do not believe that an estate of 1000 flats of any single type works well as a sustainable mixed community. There are more flats than are needed of this size and type in this area of the city and it is considered that a mix of people will serve Park Hill and the neighbourhood better. The completed project will provide 200 social, rented apartments and 40 with shared ownership.

What is English Heritage’s role in Park Hill?

• We are here to provide expert advice on how much can be changed and to show all those working on it which features give the building its value. In adopting a constructive approach, English Heritage is able to single out what is most important to the site and what is less important. This enables the local planning authority to agree necessary changes to the place without taking away from the reasons it was listed.

They seem to have changed quite a lot – is that OK?

• Park Hill’s significance comes from a very strong architectural design which, amongst other features, is expressed through its plan, its external decks and its exposed concrete structure. Our approach is to respect the original design intention for this building as much as possible and to pay special attention to these aspects. By comparison, the external cladding and the internal partitioning were of secondary interest.
  
  The approach of focusing sharply on what makes the building special may look dramatic while work is underway but it does preserve its historic value, and means that the layout of the apartments and the infill panels within the frame can be changed in order to update and upgrade the estate for 21st century needs.

Is the concrete structure important enough to justify the cost of repair? What is that repair method that we are advocating?

• Careful conservation of the concrete structure is a priority to give the building a long life and to make Park Hill an attractive place in which to live. It is also a very important part of what makes the building special. The concrete structure and balustrades form the grid which defines the entire form of the building and embodies the Brutalist ethos of the scheme as a whole. That’s why we have provided a grant of £500,000 for the repair and replacement of concrete in the project.
  
  The aim of the repair programme is to keep the original concrete and its intended appearance as much as possible. When new concrete is needed, repairs will be unobtrusive and the surface texture will be reproduced - but it will still be possible to see the extent of repair beneath a protective coating. The coating is necessary to prevent further deterioration of the concrete and rusting of the steel reinforcement bars.

When will the project be completed?

• The transformation of Park Hill is a long term project which is being developed in a series of phases. The first phase is currently underway and represents about one third of the whole project. The demolitions are complete and work on the structural repairs and new elevations starts this month. When the scaffold begins to come down in 18 months time, a transformed Park Hill will be revealed.
  
  This is an exemplary project on an exceptional building, and one in which the people in Sheffield will be proud.